While this is clearly an imantrpot and disturbing story, I was interested in a comment Kim made last night regarding the widespread publication of these events: While this story is clearly newsworthy, sexual assaults on women are not confined to the Middle East or Arab countries. Is such widespread publicity an effort to make sure that in our praise for an Arab country we don’t forget the stereotype of Muslim/Arab = bad? It could seem like a tool to balance out the positive coverage and maintain the current hierarchy. Just a thought Kim am I interpretting your comment correctly?-Laura Johnson

Mindi’s review on the Somaly Mam book was very good. Your review does give a very good description what what the book entails. I liked the points you made about what she did not discuss that may have helped the book. Many people know nothing about Cambodia other than Ankor Wat, and perhaps Phnom Penh, so there is a vast number of people who have never really even heard of the Khmer Rouge and the civil unrest that Cambodia suffered. Knowing the more recent history of the country and what led to the problem of sex trafficking in Cambodia would go a long way towards helping people better understand the situation.